Thomas Aquinas and Some Thomists on the Nature of Mathematics

0532086 - FLÚ 2021 RIV US eng J - Článek v odborném periodiku
Svoboda, David - Sousedík, Prokop
Thomas Aquinas and Some Thomists on the Nature of Mathematics.
Review of Metaphysics. Roč. 73, č. 4 (2020), s. 715-740. ISSN 0034-6632
Grant CEP: GA ČR(CZ) GA18-05838S
Institucionální podpora: RVO:67985955
Klíčová slova: Aquinas * philosophy of mathematics * science
Obor OECD: Philosophy, History and Philosophy of science and technology
Způsob publikování: Pouze metadata

The authors explicate Aquinas’s conception of mathematics. They show that in his work the Aristotelian conception is prevalent, according to which this discipline is -together with physics and metaphysics - a theoretical science, whose subject is the study of real quantity and its necessary properties. But, alongside this dominant and prevalent conception, Aquinas’s work contains a number of indications that cast doubt. These sparse and rather marginal reflections lead the authors to conclude that Aquinas’s texts contain a “constructivist” conception of mathematics in rudimentary form. According to this approach, mathematics is not a theoretical science examining real quantity but, rather, a special kind of “art” by means of which mathematical objects are “created”. From a constructivist point of view the authors then attempt to formulate a conception of mathematics that would accord with the basic Aristotelian assumptions of Aquinas’s thought.
Trvalý link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0310690